Documents Related To Ministerial Submission MS25-000542.

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A ministerial submission updates the Minister for Industry and Innovation on two matters related to the Entrepreneurs' Programme: compensation claims arising from a 2019 procurement process for delivery partners, and a performance audit of i4Connect. The 2019 procurement was audited by the Australian National Audit Office in June 2022, which identified non-compliance with Commonwealth Procurement Rules in tender assessment. Following this finding, the department invited unsuccessful tenderers to lodge compensation claims under the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018, engaging external legal counsel (Minter Ellison, later Clayton Utz) to manage the process. An unsuccessful tenderer subsequently alleged fraud and corruption, claiming a commercialisation adviser provided unlawful access to confidential information and received a $900,000 payment from the successful tenderer. Internal and external departmental inquiries found no evidence supporting these allegations. The matter was referred to the Australian Federal Police and National Anti